Meet your Media Team!

Hello SUU Theatre Arts and Dance students! Now that the fall semester is underway and we're gearing up for a spectacular year of performances and events, we wanted to introduce you to your media team for this school year. These are the people in charge of keeping you updated on the goings-on of the department through all forms of social media. We will be making posts and snapping pictures this whole school year, documenting and advertising all the wonderful things we do in SUU TAD. Read below to get to know us a little better and be sure come say hello if you haven't met any of us yet!

Henry Ballesteros 

Originally from Layton, Utah, Henry is a junior theatre arts major in the Classical Acting BFA program. At SUU, you might have seen him as Bellomy in The Fantasicks!, Avram in Fiddler on the Roof, William Barfee in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, or Constable/Nym in Henry V. He has also performed with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Neil Simon Festival. If you have yet to meet Henry, you can see him as Polonius in our upcoming mainstage production of Hamlet this October or just listen around campus for his infamous laugh!

HENRY FUN FACTS!

Favorite dessert: Salad with Wishbone Italian dressing

Favorite time period: Regency England 

Favorite smell: Actor's Equity approved stage smoke  

Random fact: "I love to construct model kits to movie quality standards. I'll spend up to a year working on one model."

Amber James

Amber, born and raised in Arizona, is a senior theatre arts major with a Classical Acting emphasis. You might have seen her as Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mabel Chiltern in An Ideal Husband, Balthesar in Romeo and Juliet, or Mrs. Cratchit/Virginia Pine in A Christmas Carol: On the Air! She also assistant directed Henry V and A Streetcar Named Desire on-campus and performed with the Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Neil Simon Festival. She will be playing Horatio in Hamlet this October.

AMBER FUN FACTS!

Dream vacation: Traveling all over England, Italy, and Croatia  

If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would you pick and why? 
"Oscar Wilde, because I feel like we would have hilariously entertaining dinner conversation." 

Favorite play: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare 

Favorite smell: A library or bookstore 

LayCee Houghton

LayCee is a junior Dance/Secondary Education major with an emphasis in Special Ed from Heber City, Utah. She has been very involved in all the dance concerts (both student and faculty choreographed) since her first year at SUU. She has worked with all the guest choreographers that have come in since 2013. She was a choreographer in the student dance concert last fall and in the summer of 2014 she traveled to Taiwan with Paul and Chien-Ying to study dance at the National Arts School for two weeks. She is currently working on choreographing a piece for We've Got Rhythm, the student dance concert this fall.

LAYCEE FUN FACTS!

Favorite time period: The 1980's

Dream vacation: Backpacking through Europe

Favorite smell: Essential oils

Random fact: "I fall on flat surfaces. Daily. Not fun for me, but fun when I tell people my stories!"

Carly Christensen

Carly is a sophomore theatre arts major, also in the Classical Acting BFA program, from Phoenix, Arizona. She has performed on-campus as Luisa in The Fantasticks!, Olive Ostrovsky in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Shandel in Fiddler on the Roof and off-campus as a member of the Lake Powell Playhouse acting company this summer. See her take on the leading role of Diana in Next to Normal this fall and if you see her around campus, ask to see her spot-on Miranda Sings impression!

CARLY FUN FACTS! 

Favorite dessert: Cheesecake. Any cheesecake.

Favorite TV series: "Gilmore Girls. I've seen every single episode 9 times. Monkey monkey underpants."

Favorite play/musical: Peter and the Starcatcher or anything Sondheim 

If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would you pick and why?

"I would definitely sit down to dinner with Regina Spektor. I'm pretty sure we are soul mates. I want to know every single thing about her. Seriously. I want to know which shoe she ties first. Her views on culture, religion, and just life in general are so unique and so beautiful. We could chat for hours."

Colton Needles

A Cedar City native, Colton is a senior theatre arts major. Here at SUU, Colton has appeared as a Bottle Dancer in Fiddler on the Roof, King Henry in Henry V, Sampson in Romeo and Juliet, and Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He also performed with the Neil Simon Festival this past summer. You can see Colton this semester as Henry in Next to Normal, opening at the end of October, or if you spot him on campus go say hello and he'll be sure to greet you with enthusiasm and energy!

COLTON FUN FACTS! 

Favorite TV series: Breaking Bad or True Detective 

If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would you pick and why?
"Probably Alfred Hitchcock. From what I read about him he sounds like a really cool guy. Plus he was a genius so there's that too. I feel like we would get along pretty well."

Dream vacation: Tour of Europe or all the Disney parks

Random fact: "You (yeah, you) are going to die someday."